Two questions are crucial in the evaluation of fever in returning travellers, i.e. "Where have you been?" and "When did you go and when did you return from your trip?". Prior to establishing practice guidelines for fever in returning travellers and migrants, we did a systematic review of the geographical distribution of all infectious diseases in the tropical and subtropical countries. In the present paper, results are summarized by disease per continent. We also reviewed the extreme ranges for the incubation of the same diseases. Results are expressed graphically. Detailed information on space and time should help the practitioner to do an appropriate differential diagnosis, in particular to exclude diseases that are absent in the country visited or diseases with an incubation period that is incompatible with the travel history and symptoms occurrence dates.